Latest Podcast



Featured Articles

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

Ofcom says mobile contracts should ditch inflation-related price rises

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom wants to ban inflation-related rises in phone and broadband contracts. Instead, it says any potential mid-contract price rises should be set out in pounds and pence.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Global smartphone market is set for recovery, says new forecast

A new forecast from research specialists Canalys shows the smartphone market is set to recover next year. Worldwide shipments declined by 12% last year but that decline is expected to slow to 5% this year.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

Vodafone and Three plan to merge their UK businesses

New Hutchison/Vodafone network would be biggest UK operator

Vodafone Group plc and CK Hutchison Group Telecom Holdings Limited have agreed to combine their UK telecommunication businesses, respectively Vodafone UK and Three UK. The merger will create a large new network operator to compete with Virgin Media O2 and EE.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

UK mobile payment service Paym to close in March 2023

UK mobile payment service Paym will close on 7th March 2023. The service, which allowed users to make and receive payments using their mobile phone numbers, was launched in 2014.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Qualcomm legal action moves forward in the UK

Which? seeks payout for Samsung and Apple smartphone owners

Consumer protection organisation Which? has been given permission by the UK's Competition Appeal Tribunal to represent Apple and Samsung smartphone buyers in a legal case against chip manufacturer Qualcomm.
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS

Opinion Articles

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Ovum reveals 2014 will be a year of innovation, disruption, and consolidation in mobile payments

Analyst firm Ovum has published its mobile payment and mobile advertising predictions for this year.

Ovum expects continued technology and service innovation, notably around location-based applications, in the mobile payments space in 2014. However, there will be increasing complexity within the mobile payments ecosystem this year, and on-going challenges around the business model for digital wallet services.

According to the global analyst firm’s forthcoming ‘2014 Trends to Watch’ report there are outstanding issues in most mature markets linked to low consumer uptake and usage of m-payment and digital wallet services. Consumers will lean most towards services associated with financial brands. This is supported by Ovum’s Consumer Insights Survey, which reveals that 43% of respondents chose banks as their most trusted m-payments service provider, followed by credit card companies (13%), online payment providers (9%) and then mobile operators (6%).

Eden Zoller, principal analyst with Ovum’s Consumer Practice, says “Overall revenue growth for mobile payments in 2014 will be slow and steady rather than spectacular, at least in mature markets. The different dynamics at work in emerging markets will make for stronger growth among unbanked users. We expect to see much consolidation in the digital wallets space in 2014. There has been an explosion in digital wallet launches over the last two years and this is not sustainable going forward. Consumers will not adopt multiple digital wallets and instead will focus their loyalty and spending with one or possibly two services. The best positioned will be those associated with the financial brands that consumers trust most and are familiar with. It is digital wallets of this kind that have the best chance of achieving scale, and also attracting the advertising dollars that are needed to bolster the business model.”

Key predictions:

  • 2014 will not be the year that near-field communication (NFC) takes off – and neither will 2015. A growing number of alternative enabling technologies are readily available, and at lower cost to merchants and consumers.

  • There is a chance that hosted card emulation (HCE) could help the case for NFC during 2014. HCE provides a cloud-based model for NFC that makes service provisioning much easier for issuers, developers, and other third parties. This has the potential to open the NFC market to more innovation and competition. However, this will happen only if the card schemes get behind HCE and security concerns are addressed.

  • Bluetooth low energy (BLE) will come to the fore, bringing with it a proliferation in BLE beacon payment services and hyper-location retail applications. However, there is a danger that BLE beacon applications will be subject to hype that inflates what these types of application can deliver while obscuring their limitations.

  • Location-based advertising will be a priority focus in 2014, but many service providers underestimate the challenges involved. Location-based advertising is rightly seen as promising because of the tangible benefits it offers to both retailers and consumers, but it is complex, and will become more so as location techniques and sources of data proliferate. At the same time, push-based location advertising has the potential to be very intrusive if not accurately targeted, and the need for precise targeting raises sensitive issues relating to data privacy.

  • Although the mPOS market is here to stay, consolidation in this increasingly crowded, commoditized area is inevitable and will begin in earnest during 2014. Going forward, mPOS providers will need to achieve scale; this means addressing larger enterprises, where they will have to compete with traditional POS vendors. This will be particularly difficult for smaller mPOS providers – the weaker ones will disappear, and the more promising will be acquired.

  • There will be a sharp rise in tablet-based mobile commerce in during 2014 and beyond. Consumer adoption of tablets is growing quickly, and their large screen size and enhanced graphics mean that they are better suited than smartphones to displaying and appreciating visual merchandise. As prefigured in the Ovum IAB survey of US brands, 2014 will also see more advertising spend on tablets: 75% of respondents said that they expect to see their use of tablets increase during 2014 and 2015.

  • Over the last few years Apple has been putting in place the pieces that in 2014 will see it finally launch a fully-fledged, unified mobile payments platform. This will have a positive impact on consumer uptake and use of m-payments, but may have a negative impact on other players hoping to gain market dominance in the space.

  • Amazon’s big ambitions for mobile, and its reported acquisition of GoPago’s mPOS technology, mean it will finish 2014 with a wider and deeper portfolio of m-payment services.
Ovum is an independent analyst business that specialises in technology and telecommunications. It’s part of the Informa group.
Print
Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Rate this article:
No rating

Leave a comment

This form collects your name, email, IP address and content so that we can keep track of the comments placed on the website. For more info check our Privacy Policy and Terms Of Use where you will get more info on where, how and why we store your data.
Add comment

Recent Podcasts

A podcast packed with smartphones galore... from Samsung, Sony, Microsoft and Motorola

Podcast - 10th September 2014

James Rosewell and Mark Bridge return from their summer break with a podcast full of smartphones and smart watches.

As well as products from Samsung, Sony, Microsoft, Motorola, HTC and Kazam, there's talk of Opera's new browser deal, a potential change on the UK high street... and a mobile app that connects to a Bluetooth toothbrush for improved toothpaste coverage.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

We review the CAT B100 rugged mobile phone

Podcast - 30th July 2014

Mark Bridge takes an in-depth look at the CAT B100 rugged phone from Bullitt Mobile.

The CAT B100 is designed to withstand rather more than everyday bumps and knocks - which is why Mark drops his mobile phone on the pavement, submerges it in his washing-up bowl and shuts it in the freezer.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Microsoft cuts its mobile staff, Apple finds a new partner and Yahoo! makes an acquisition

Podcast - 23rd July 2014

We start this week's podcast with news that thousands of Microsoft's ex-Nokia employees are losing their jobs.

Other topics for discussion include the new Apple and IBM partnership, Yahoo's acquisition of Flurry, regulating mobile games, improving rural mobile coverage, BT's new phone service and some management movements.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

Florent Stroppa of OnMobile talks about the state of the mobile telecom industry, from network deals to smart wearables

Podcast - 18th July 2014

In this podcast Mark Bridge talks to Florent Stroppa from mobile value-added service specialist OnMobile about the state of the mobile industry in 2014.

They discuss the dominance of Apple and Samsung, network consolidation, the new Amazon Fire smartphone, smart wearables and much more.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating

National security, phones for children, a new UK mobile network and a change of name

Podcast - 16th July 2014

This week's mobile industry podcast begins with a quick look at the UK government's emergency legislation affecting fixed-line, mobile phone and broadband traffic.

We then talk about Microsoft's plans, a new virtual network from the Post Office, Samsung's renamed app store, budget 4G smartphones, a wearable phone for children and some misleading advertising.

Author: The Fonecast
0 Comments
Article rating: No rating
RSS
123578910Last

Follow thefonecast.com

Twitter @TheFonecast RSS podcast feed
Find us on Facebook Subscribe free via iTunes

Archive Calendar

«March 2024»
MonTueWedThuFriSatSun
26272829123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
25262728293031
1234567

Archive

Terms Of Use | Privacy Statement